Umerkote: A 75-year-old woman who was carried 3km to a hospital on a sling, died just minutes after her arrival in a hospital after a 108 ambulance could not reach her village due to lack of road connectivity Monday.
The incident was reported from Janiguda village under this police limits in Nabarangpur district. She was identified as Ratnabati Harijan.
According to sources, Ratanabati complained of chest pain Monday morning. Family members called a 108-ambulance to take her to Umerkote community health centre (CHC), just 3 km from the village.
However, the ambulance could not reach the village as a canal that flows along the village was overflowing due to persistent rain. Moreover, the muddy road made it hard for the ambulance to arrive at the village.
Left with no option, Ratanabati’s family decided to carry her in a sling. They managed to cross the canal and hired an auto rickshaw to take her to the hospital.
Barely a few minutes after she reached the hospital, Ratanabati breathed her last.
This is not the only case. A number of such cases have been reported in the tribal-dominated Nabarangpur district in the recent past when patients had to be carried on bicycles, cots and slings to nearest health centres as ambulance service do not reach villages for some reason or other.
Despite the government spending lakhs of rupees on the betterment of ambulance services and medical facilities in rural areas, the plight of beneficiaries continues.
PNN